Old bank ad: "Open an account, get a free toaster!"
I guess you have to be of a certain age for that ad to sound familiar.
The age that remembers dish cloths tucked inside boxes of detergent to get you to buy that brand..
Or, glassware and dishes given away free at movie theaters.
Probably also know about S & H Greenbax stamps that you licked, stuck into a booklet and redeemed for prizes or gifts.
And lay-a-way shopping and having a Christmas Club account that you used for buying holiday presents.
OK, now returning to banks offering toasters.
My bank,
South Coast Community, just handed me this
free USB Power Bank.
Just for filling out an application and requesting their credit card.
Not a huge story. Just an observation.
Back when banks gave away toasters, people did not have smart phones, iPads and other devices that could need an emergency stored power supply. Back then, most transactions were in cash or with a check.
Grocery store register counters still have a small shelf that you pull out to use when you write a check.
I don't even own a toaster.
But, I have a smartphone.
And, sometimes, I use it to bank online.
Labels: banking online, credit card application, dish cloths in boxes of soap, glassware, S&H greenbax stamps, Smartphone, Southcoast community Bank, USB Power Bank
400th BLOG. Yikes.
Moments in time.
My
400th posting on my blog.
Marked by a "1970s time travel" experience.
Yes. That is
James Taylor in concert in Columbia a few days ago. Still in fine voice.
His
Sweet Baby James album came out in 1970 with the intensely personal song
"Fire & Rain."He sang the title song as well as
"Fire" and
"Carolina On My Mind" but not
"Steam Roller."
His "Special Guest" on the stage was his son Ben Taylor.
Singing, playing and banter was good from his barefoot boy.
The 63-year old dad broke his left leg skiing last week and quipped he was doing fine
"thanks to some great chemistry." Ben added
"Guess we should stop saying 'break a leg.'"There were wooden stools on stage but both stood up to play and sing as well.
Earlier in the day I stopped at the Columbia Museum of Art.
Enjoyed 2 hours of time tumbling through the 60s, 70s and 80s.
No picture-taking was allowed inside but here's the poster out front with Punk stars
The Ramones.
This classic shot captured a moment at Eric's Club in Liverpool,1977.
Get over to Columbia before this goes away.
The Beatles, Janis Joplin, baby-faced Keith Richardson and The Stones, Elvis, Jimi Hendrix setting his guitar on fire, Kurt Cobain...all these and more were caught in front of these cameras.
Richard Avedon on his 1961 shot of the
Everly Brothers:
"A portrait is not a likeness....but an opinion."Outrageous album covers were being imagined and created long before
Photoshop.
Officials in Morocco were reluctant to allow placing actual giant inflated red balloons along the top of sand dunes at dawn but that was the vision of the album designer.
The funniest part of this looking back experience was using my
Smartphone and
GPS guidance system to find these places.
(Click images for detail. Koger Center for the Arts was aggressive enforcing no cameras..but only on the front row! Flashes going off all around the hall and my little non-flash camera acted as a magnet.
Easy-to-get-to rules enforcement.)
Labels: Ben Taylor, Bob Gruen, Columbia Museum of Art, Elvis, Fire and Rain, GPS, James Taylor, Janis, Jimi Henrdrix, Koger Center For The Arts, Richard Avedon, Smartphone, Sweet Baby James, The Ramones
Have a "Candlestick" telephone?
Well, THIS is not exactly the telephone I have been using lately.
Mine did not have a rotary dial.
But it also was NOT a hand-held computer and could not give me driving directions from point A to point B.
I never really wanted a new "phone" because my Tracfone ($7 a month) was fine for the last 6-7 years.
Also the minutes I bought would accumulate and I had built up a surplus of 300 minutes. Oh, and I didn't want to sign a 2-year contract.
The
LG Optimus V 2.2 from Virgin Mobil/Sprint cost $149, has no contract and, for $25 a month, I have unlimited internet, unlimited text/messaging and 300 phone minutes.
I canceled my phone package deal through Comcast and no longer have a "stationary" phone at home. Yikes.
Pretty gutsy for a 70-year old guy.
This model is described online as a very good entry-level (some reviews said mid-level) Smartphone and has a lot of bells and whistles which are outlandish to my baby-steps mind.
I used the WiFi hotspot to activate my netbook - because I could - and set up a secure line naming it after a local bar. THAT will confuse the people in the trailer parks all around me.
The GPS talked me down a street I remembered as being a dead end but saw it has been opened and paved and now is a short cut I use often.
The calendar that syncs with my computer is awesome and I wonder how I survived juggling paper desk calendars for so many years.
The "swipe motion" keyboard is easier than learning to type at my age. Two-fingers on each hand have worked for years (40wpm!) and I have never texted (done a text message) ever.
I'm babbling on because it is all so new to me.
Obviously I have seen people with
Blackberries and they always looked happy with an inner glow.
I saw an ad for a
retro handset so I had to have that.
I haven't seen one for a retro 'stick phone.
Yet.
(Click on the pictures to see them larger.
The 'stick phone image was found on the internet but the others were taken by me. Did I mention I really like high tech?
Thanks for coming by. Hey, call me.
Labels: candlestick phone, coil cord receiver, entry-level, LG Optimus V, retro handset, Smartphone, version 2.2
